Selasa, 04 Januari 2011

Smallest BIG speaker I've ever seen!

SimplyVibe V3 5BPS Portable Speaker Rechargeable

For a tiny speaker that fits into your pocket, this one packs a hefty punch, and I DO mean it.

It fits with in my pocket, together with my Sansa c250-v1 (read my separate review there), and I think they were 'meant' for each other. Turn on the player, set the speaker on high, press shuffle, play and get back to work. Yeehaw.

Cons:

- 'Proprietary' USB-to-TRS cable. Now if I could find the circuit schematic for this speaker, I might find a workaround. But then, if you lose the cable, tough luck. You're gonna get stuck with the microSD port and load your music there.

- Device hangs when using the microSD slot to play stuff. It hangs once in a while when you load really large files. However, turning off and on (the device) seems to clear this up.

- No visible screws for maintenance access. I fix stuff all the time, so this one's a no-no for me.

However, don't let the cons let you down. This little fellow can play my music at a high volume with minimal distortion for 4-5 hours, so that should even things out.

For a tiny speaker that fits into your pocket, this one packs a hefty punch, and I DO mean it.

It fits with in my pocket, together with my Sansa c250-v1 (read my separate review there), and I think they were 'meant' for each other. Turn on the player, set the speaker on high, press shuffle, play and get back to work. Yeehaw.

Cons:

- 'Proprietary' USB-to-TRS cable. Now if I could find the circuit schematic for this speaker, I might find a workaround. But then, if you lose the cable, tough luck. You're gonna get stuck with the microSD port and load your music there.

- Device hangs when using the microSD slot to play stuff. It hangs once in a while when you load really large files. However, turning off and on (the device) seems to clear this up.

- No visible screws for maintenance access. I fix stuff all the time, so this one's a no-no for me.

However, don't let the cons let you down. This little fellow can play my music at a high volume with minimal distortion for 4-5 hours, so that should even things out.

I've accumulated a number of small speakers. Some are bluetooth, some are not. This is a non-bluetooth speaker and it is fantastic in many ways.

The SimplyVibe V3-5BPS is a well-built speaker, beautifully packaged which makes it exciting to open and also makes a wonderful presentation if given as a gift. The quality of the packaging reflects the quality of the speaker itself.

First thing you notice is how hefty this little speaker is. It is substantially solid in construction and when you compare it to most of the other small plastic orbs that call themselves speakers, this one is clearly superior in construction.

It takes about 3 hours to fully charge the 400 mAh Lithium-Ion battery. Play time is roughly 5-6 hours depending on how loud you play the speaker.

The bottom of the speaker has a sliding on/off switch of good quality. The bottom also has a really grippy surface which comes in pretty handy because the speaker produces such good bass, that it would actually vibrate off a smooth surface if you've really got it cranking. That's why it's important to remove the plastic covering off the bottom of the speaker.

Along the outside bottom edge of the speaker are the various ports, slots and button controls. There is a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headhphone output, a mini-USB port which is both an AUX output and also used for charging the speaker (however it can only do one or the other at a time.)Finally there is a set of three buttons, a minus button, a play/pause button and a plus button. These are muti-function buttons that have different purposes depending on how long you press them, as I describe in my video review.

This is quite simply the best small speaker I've heard in this price range. It has a full, rich sound with ample bass. Technically the frequency response of the speaker is 60Hz to 18KHz... that's right, the frequency response starts at 50Hz which is pretty amazing for such a tiny speaker. It's a difference you can clearly hear. Distortion is a very respectable less than or equal to 0.5%.. The speaker provides 3W of output power.

If you were blindfolded, you'd never believe this little speaker could produce the kind of sound that you are hearing.

The FM radio is OK. Reception is not exceptional, nor would I expect it to be since there is little accommodation for a built-in antenna. But it does work and if you are in an area with at least several strong FM stations it will work. It can automatically scan the FM band and put into memory all the stations it finds. You can then access the found stations by using the "-" and "+" buttons.

The microSD card can be up to 8GB and the speaker will recognize mp3 and mp4 files. Unfortunately there is no "shuffle" mode so you just have to let the music play or skip ahead an back as you wish using the +" and "-" buttons. You can also pause music and resume play using the play/pause button.

Volume is controlled by a long and sustained press of either the "+" or "-" buttons. A momentary press will advance or go backwards through music, if in microSD card mode, or radio stations when in FM mode.

This is a great value in a unbelievably good sounding small speaker.

The biggest problem with the speaker has to do with the USER GUIDE. It is miserably written and very difficult to figure out. I hate poorly written manuals and there is simply no excuse for that. But I'm not going to penalize the rating at all because the speaker fully deserves 5 stars based on its performance.

For the price... it is extraordinary. Took it on a 4 day trip with friends I do not see very often. Small size was a HUGE plus, as we were on motorcycles. All of use iPhones for music, it worked great while streaming or from our library. I almost got the Bluetooth version, but for this use I think it was easier to hand around the speaker and cord to let everyone have their turn as DJ. We used it inside and outside... worked great for both. Filled a 2 story living room, and was plenty loud for all to hear around the fire.

I am impressed by the sound coming from this tiny speaker. The bass is stronger than I would have believed. At full volume it rattles the table and floor while playing Metallica. It sounds just as amazing playing Bach. It's small enough to carry in my purse and the battery life is great.